1

“Everyone gets too much stuff.”

Esther Williams: "Everyone gets too much stuff."

2

“There was always a quarter in the bottom of my stocking, and that was a lot of money back then.”

Doris Taylor: "There was always a quarter in the bottom of my stocking,and that was a lot of money back then."

3

“During the Depression, we got very little.”

Charlotte Otis: "During the Depression we got very little."

4

“Any dress or clothes, you wouldn’t throw it away, you’d cut it up and make cloth dolls.”

Nylda Weeks: "Any dress or clothes, you wouldn't throw it away, you'd cut it up and make cloth dolls."

WILLIAMSBURG - Even those not brave enough to venture out on Black Friday can probably still picture the scene: holiday shoppers struggling through the crowded malls, weighed down by the bags full of toys, electronics and other pricey items destined to be wrapped and gifted on Christmas.

"Gift giving has changed a lot, and I don't know if it's for the better," said Esther Williams, 80, shaking her head at the thought. "Everyone gets too much stuff."

Last week at a luncheon at the Williamsburg Senior Center, Williams was among a small group of seniors who accepted an invitation from the Gazette to reflect on Christmases past, particularly those during the Great Depression.

Since the start of the recession, many shoppers say they are spending less on Christmas gifts, citing the lean economic times. But for some seniors, including those who can recall Christmas during the Great Depression, the spending is too much, the gifts are too many and the spirit of giving just isn't the same.

Williams and other seniors marveled at how times have changed when it comes to celebrating the holidays.

Back in the day, said Candace Smith, 64, "You got one gift, not a million."

Others recalled the few, simple gifts they received at their family Christmases. There was something good about that, they said.

"They were special," Clyde Gagne, 66, said from the next table. "You appreciated what you got. You were glad to get anything."

Younger folk who say they are trying to spend less this year might find some guidance from the stories these seniors recalled from their youth.

"If you couldn't afford much, you bartered for it or you made things by hand," said Williams, of Haydenville.

Charlotte Otis, 86, also of Williamsburg, said her family was poor and her parents did not have the option of buying presents at the store. "During the Depression, we got very little," Otis said over her roast chicken lunch.

"I remember my aunt would bring our presents up from Springfield," she said. "We each got a book and some article of clothing, like a sweater. That was it."

Like many families she knew, Otis and her siblings made a lot of gifts by hand. Her favorite was a present from her brother when she was 4 or 5 years old, she said.

"I wanted a tricycle so bad, I used to look at them in the catalog, but there wasn't a hope of us buying it," she recalled. "Then my brother was working on building something in the shed, and he wouldn't let me out there to see. He brought it in on Christmas and it was a tricycle he'd made out of wood, and I loved it so much."

Nylda Weeks, 70, recalled unwrapping dolls her mother made while she was growing up in Puerto Rico.

"Any dress or clothes, you wouldn't throw it away, you'd cut it up and make cloth dolls," she said.

Smith, who grew up and lives in Williamsburg, remembered getting a doll from her older sister, a few doll sweaters from her older brother and a few gag gifts, like a box of firewood because it was her chore to keep the wood stove stocked.

Socks, mittens and sweaters that family members knitted were also regular Christmas gifts, she said. That's a tradition she held on to.

"I still make a lot of gifts," she said.

"Back then it was more about what you needed than what you wanted," agreed Gail Gagne, 63, of Williamsburg.

Clyde Gagne said clothes made up the majority of presents when he was growing up in Easthampton. "You got clothes, not toys, because it was just what your parents could afford," he said. "My mother would take out a loan before Christmas and then pay it off all year, and then take out another one next Christmas."

Williams said her family could afford "small stuff, like walnuts, an orange or some fudge" as Christmas gifts. "For a big family, you couldn't just go shopping for presents," she said.

Fortunately, their aunt would send presents for the whole family from Vermont. "My mother would be so desperate for them she would have us walk to the post office every day to see if they had arrived," Williams said.

If you were lucky enough to be able to shop for presents, you would head to Northampton to Woolworth's five and dime, W.T. Grant or J.J. Newberry's. "But there were no iPods," Clyde Gagne said. "You got simple things."

The 12 seniors at the luncheon agreed that jacks, marbles, balls and other games were the store-bought gifts they might find under the Christmas tree, and toboggan sleds were among the most coveted gifts.

Mary Connell, 86, grew up in her father's general store at the base of Village Hill in Williamsburg, hoping popular items in the store might find their way into her stocking. "Every year he would go to New York and buy all these games and things and put them on the counter of the store for people to buy for Christmas," she said. "We used to look at all the things and try to guess what we might get."

Doris Taylor, 85, said that although things were lean in Northampton during the Great Depression, she never felt that anything was missing at Christmas. "The one thing I can remember is that there was always a quarter in the bottom of my stocking, and that was a lot of money back then," she said.

Philanthropy was a Christmas tradition in many families, Otis said, long before you could donate to Toys for Tots or other Christmas charities.

"We would always have to give a gift to a poor family," she said. "My mother would say, 'Pick out one of your toys, something good that you like,' and we'd bring it to the children who didn't have any."

Smith recalled how she and her siblings would "press up" their jackets that no longer fit, to bring them to families in need.

"And everybody gave the mailman something," Smith said. "He'd open the box and get a little loaf of bread, and every neighbor got cookies."

After the meal was over, the Williamsburg seniors agreed that people who are caught up in the commercial side of Christmas would do well to think about what the holiday used to be like.

"Now, it's all about Christmas shopping," Weeks said. She noted that many people spend too much, even when they say they are trying to cut back because times are tough, something she finds troubling. "There's no sense in going into debt for Christmas."

Clyde Gagne said people should take time out of their shopping to remember what Christmas is really about. Family and friends are the most important part of Christmas - not the presents under the tree.

"It's about more than just getting gifts," Otis said.

Rebecca Everett can be reached at reverett@gazettenet.com.